Solely aggregation of news articles, with no opinions expressed by this service since 2009 launch on this platform.
Copyright to all articles remains with the publisher and HEADLINES ARE CLICKABLE to access published articles.
(Subscription by RSS is recommended, even though email, LinkedIn and Google+ updates are available.)

Early on a Sunday morning at Dubai International Airport, well-dressed businessmen are forming an orderly queue at a check-in desk.
They are not the frequent fliers of Emirates or Qatar Airways, but Flydubai, the emirate’s fast-growing budget airline.
Quietly, and with little fanfare, Flydubai is sneaking up behind its more expensive rivals, targeting short-haul business commuter routes between Dubai and cities such as Doha and Kuwait City. In a period of austerity, it is hard to argue why businesses should pay double the price for a one-hour flight.

Tamweel PJSC (TAMWEEL) may consider tapping the debt market again this year after the United Arab Emirates mortgage lender raised $300 million from the sale of Islamic bonds in January.
“We may potentially go back to the market this year for either a sukuk or securitization,” acting Chief Executive OfficerVarun Sood said in an interview in Dubai today. “It would be a similar transaction to what we did earlier this year.”
The mortgage company, controlled by Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC (DIB), sold $300 million in sukuk in January, its first offering since 2008. The yield on its 5.154 percent bonds due January 2017 was at 5.13 percent today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

It is patchy with higher end villa prices in established communities advancing most recently. But predictions that the Dubai property market would see further price falls this year appear to have been wide of the mark.

Depending on whether you talk to optimistic owners or more reticent estate agents Dubai villas in favored areas are up 10 to 20 per cent in the past six months. Jones Lang LaSalle said house prices looked to have bottomed out with prices now similar to early 2008 levels, still some considerable way short of the peak valuations of the summer of that year.

Indebted Dubai state-owned developer Nakheel Properties reported a 33-percent rise in 2011 profit on Monday and said that it anticipated an improvement in the struggling real estate sector.
Nakheel reported a net profit of 1.3 billion dirhams ($353.93 million) last year, up from 1 billion dirhams in 2010. Revenues rose to 4.1 billion dirhams, a company statement said. Total liabilities fell to 41 billion dirhams last year from 61 billion dirhams in 2010.
"The market is picking up so there was no need for impairments (in 2011)," Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah told
reporters.

Middle East trader FAL Oil is close to securing an agreement to restructure about $700 million of its debt with creditors that will include additional loans to keep its operations going, at least two company sources told Reuters.
FAL Oil, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was up until recently considered to be one of the biggest privately run Middle East trading firms. But it has been struggling to keep its business operations in full swing due to a lack of funds.
Earlier this year it was sanctioned by the United States for its role in supplying gasoline into Iran.
"Banks (creditors) have in principle agreed on the restructuring but it is not yet complete because of the delays
in the execution of certain documents," one company source said.

Qatar Airways Ltd., the second- biggest Middle Eastern Airline, will more than double in size by 2020, carrying 2 1/2 times more passengers than it does today, Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said.
Still, growth at the Gulf carrier could be held back by aircraft delivery delays, something that could prompt it to order Asian-built jets should they be demonstrably safe and efficient, Al Baker said in a panel discussion in Abu Dhabi.

Qatar's central bank will keep issuing treasury bills worth 4 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) every month, its governor Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud al-Thani said on Monday.
"We will continue to issue 4 billion riyals in T-bills at the beginning of each month," he told reporters on the sidelines of a financial conference in the Qatari capital.

Thomson Reuters today released its first quarter 2012 investment banking analysis for the Middle East region, which found debt issuance reached US$11.0 billion during the first quarter of 2012, nearly double the amount raised during the same period in 2011 (US$5.7 billion). Investment grade corporate debt accounted for 81% of all Middle Eastern DCM activity during the quarter, while high yield accounted for 10%.

The review examines the performance of the Middle East investment banking industry in the region's debt and equity capital markets, both conventional and Islamic. It includes dedicated regional rankings of banks and advisors operating in the Middle East based on their deals and fees.

In short the analysis of Middle East investment banking, drawn from Thomson Reuters ' data shows that compared with the same period in 2011:

"Despite widespread economic uncertainty regarding the sovereign debt crisis, volatility in many world financial markets and underperformance of certain asset classes, sovereign wealth fund aggregate assets have jumped by over half a trillion dollars across 2011-2012," wrote Preqin's Louise Weller and Alex Jones in a report.

More than half of SWFs have also shown a strong penchant for investments in private equity.

Global Islamic insurance contributions surged 19 percent in 2010 to $8.3 billion helped by Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, which made up more than half the industry, an Ernst & Young report said.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, made $5.68 billion of Islamic insurance or takaful contributions in 2010, and South East Asia $2 billion, according to the World Takaful Report 2012 e-mailed today.
Growth in the GCC slowed to 16 percent in 2010 from an annual average of 41 percent between 2005 and 2009 as the implementation of compulsory medical insurance in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi was completed earlier, it said.

The much-awaited initial public offering of Oman’s first Islamic bank - Bank Nizwa - will open for subscription on April 23. The bank is offering 600 million shares, with a par value of 102 baisas each, including two baisas for meeting issue expenses. The IPO, which is available for both Omanis and expatriates, is open for subscription for one month until May 22.

The promoters, who have submitted issue prospectus with the Capital Market Authority (CMA), have received an approval from the market watchdog.

As much as 60 per cent of the share offer is reserved for those investors who apply for 100,000 shares or less. And the remaining 40 per cent are reserved for institutional investors or high net worth individuals who apply for more than 100,000 shares. This is aimed at strengthening the participation of retail investors. The shares are expected to be listed on the Muscat Securities Market (after allotment) on either June 6 or 7.